Metal to metal joints

[Yevgeniy]

Hi all!

Would you share your experience of making "metal to metal" joints? For example when you make masts from metal tubing.

Sometime ago I saw a suggestion on MW to make mast cross-pieces (beams, anthenna and the like) not from plastic but from syringe needles. To me it is a most satisfactory suggestion since it allows to have firm parts and also to tighten rigging stronger.

I have WEM metal mast and want to use needles for other parts on the mast. Super Glue does not seam a perfect solution for this. I plan to try soldering - but so far I am not an expert with this.

How do you handle this questions? Thank you in advance

Yevgeniy
P.S. On the one hand it is a good thing that old topics are deleted from forum to make free space - but on the other hand it requires asking same questions after some time.

[les]

If you're working in a small scale, CA would probably do the job. But, if you're doing a larger scale I would think it would be better to soldering would be better. You might PM ARH as he does quite a bit of that kind of work.

[Rob]

If you are working to a small scale then superglue will do fine.

Cheers,

Rob

[Yevgeniy]

Thank you Les and Rob,

I am working with 1:350. Syringe needles are of 0,6 milimeters in diameter. Is it small?

Yevgeniy

[les]

I would consider it small. I work in 1/125 to 1/72. If you're doing a cross pieice on a mast you might try to fill a small grove in the mast to give you more mating surface.

[Yevgeniy]

Les,

Thank you very much for taking time to answer this. I will use your tip - making grooves sounds a great idea.

How do you handle metal joints with 1/72 and 1/125? Soldering? I think about making some Revell Uboots and hopefully their Fletcher.

Yevgeniy

[les]

CA seems to work just fine. Again, I groove the mast with a round file to give it a good contact area. I also use fish line for rigging. It stays straight and doesn't have to have much pressure to make it straight.

[Yevgeniy]

Les, thank you for taking time to answer and your tips

Yevgeniy